Pau Gasol (right) battles Utah Jazz forward C.J. Miles during the first half of their exhibition game Sunday. MARK TERRILL, AP

EL SEGUNDO – Phil Jackson joked that for all that Pau Gasol has done recently for those laid up at Children's Hospital Los Angeles or on behalf of malnourished kids in Ethiopia or promoting the sport of basketball in India that Gasol is "Mr. Peace."

For the record, "Pau" actually does mean "peace" in Gasol's native Catalan language, so it's not just funny, it's true.

And who better than Gasol to take the smoking hot topic of the NBA today – the number of technical fouls rapidly catching up to the number of tattoos – and turn to a peace pipe instead?

"They're setting the bar a little high for hopefully later bringing it down a notch," Gasol said of the NBA and its referees. "But it's what they believe; the league believes in it. So we have to respect it and try to adjust."

Right there, in a nutshell, is perhaps the first intelligent analysis of the league's much-maligned mandate to cut down on the whining.

There is natural concern about emotion being extracted. We watch these games because there are people playing these games. The human nature and emotional investment are what make us care about the outcomes.

But ceasing with some pointless backtalk and switching off a little negative energy does not a robot make.

Players can still exult and smile and scream and sulk for all the reasons we do when we go up and down in sports – and these players, frankly, will still find their ways to get their says.

A lot of the motions being outlawed now arose from NBA players adjusting to new rules four years ago – and learning how to avoid technical fouls ... turning away from refs before making most their dramatic gestures, for example.

And any player who doesn't think he can adapt now is selling himself short.

After Lamar Odom got a technical foul for holding his hand up a bit too long in the Lakers' first exhibition game on the mainland, he and Gasol shared some of their disbelief postgame.

"So weird," Odom said as he let various hypothetical game and technical-foul scenarios carom around in his confused head.

Gasol chimed in with this reminder: "Two G's." Indeed, the NBA this season doubled the old $1,000 fine for each initial technical foul – another deterrent. (Then came a most humorous moment and smile from Odom as he acknowledged that with all the money the Kardashian train is bringing back to his station, he is certainly in position to afford some luxuries.)

Yet Odom still didn't like the idea of throwing money or game points away. And before the Lakers' next game, Odom could be heard in the Lakers' locker room vowing that he wouldn't be victimized again.

Just like that? He could modify his behavior that fast?

Odom said he couldn't speak for all NBA players, but he could do it.

Sure enough, in the game that night, he got two quick fouls – the second for apparently pushing off on a long offensive rebound. Odom started to walk toward the referee but rerouted himself.

Late in the game, Odom disagreed with another call and reflexively staggered backward and put both fists to his head in despair – the sort of "heat of the moment" reaction that is still permitted – and then talked to referee Tom Washington about the call, calmly and from afar.

What Gasol has been doing is a real testament to being able to question calls and not draw the new technicals.

"I disagreed," Gasol said, "but I didn't over-gesture too much."

Demonstrative disagreement such as slapping your own arm to show a foul was not called is one of the explicit new aspects of the rules. Gasol in one game did place his right hand on his left wrist, but then he gently pushed down while staring at the referee. No smack, no harshness – but a point clearly made. There was no technical foul then – or when Gasol did it again to another referee moments later.

"You've got to be able to converse with them without overreacting or exposing them," Gasol said. "You're going to disagree with calls; that's just the nature of the game. Sometimes you're going to be right, sometimes you're going to be wrong. But as long as there's a communication pattern there, I think it's fair."

This stuff is particularly relevant for the Lakers: Kobe Bryant was fourth in the NBA with 14 technicals last season. Of the 48 players with at least five technicals last season, six are now Lakers: Bryant, Matt Barnes (10), Odom (nine), Ron Artest (six), Derek Fisher (five) and Gasol (five).

Given that, the odds are that Gasol and Odom will be unable to tightrope the new line perfectly. Then again, it's entirely likely that rope will be pulled toward the right for the regular season and playoffs. Rasheed Wallace need not turn over in his basketball grave until we see how much things get toned down anyway when the games start to count.

In the Lakers' most recent exhibition game, both Bryant (demonstrative disagreement) and Barnes (going directly at a referee) got early technicals. Neither got a second technical and the automatic ejection despite both having later incidents. Like Odom, Barnes was able to modify his behavior; Barnes checked himself, hopped up and glided downcourt with such technical-avoiding determination that teammate Steve Blake had to laugh at him for it.

What about Bryant? Asked if he has a feel yet for what prompts a technical now, Bryant said: "No." Asked if that's going to be a problem, he said with a half-smile: "Yes."

What goes unsaid is that Bryant actually tries to get technical fouls sometimes to shift the referees' thinking or alter game flow. About the fine money, Bryant said: "It just goes into the pot for more NBA Cares programs. It's OK."

So even though Odom made some headlines for venting the day after that Vegas game, he has come to grips with it. The Lakers as a team aren't sweating this. They have more than their share of headstrong guys, but they are also back-to-back champs because they've been the thinking man's team.

Let's not let our natural instinct to protect the humanity in the game shroud the deeper reality:

Humans are great at learning and adjusting – for the better. And they can in this case, too.

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